NAGAFF Compliance team petitions AIG, Zone 2, laments alleged harassment, intimidation, extortion of members by ZEB

The 100% Compliance Team of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), has petitioned the Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG), Zone, AIG Bode Adeyinka Adeleke over unbridled harassment, intimidation, detention and outright extortion of their members by officers of the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB).

The National Chairman of the 100% Compliance Team of NAGAFF, Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim in a petition letter  copied to the Senate Committee on Customs, Deputy Inspector -Genera of Police (Maritime), Assistant Inspector -Genera of Police (Maritime), Commissioner of police, (Western Ports), Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Chairman CRFFN and the Registrar CRFFN, accused the Bureau of writing series of invitation letters to them under the guise of facilitating an investigation only for them to be subjected to interrogations about a long-gone consignment.

The statement made available to our correspondent by the Compliance team, recalled that the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB) had in a letter of invitation dated 26th of August 2022 requested the Managing Director/Operational Manager IBRARLEO Nigeria Limited to report to the officer in charge of Zonal Enquiry Bureau Section with GSM No 08033212139 signed by DCP Umar for a fact finding exercise on a matter which they alleged was reported to the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 2 Police Command headquarters, Onikan – Lagos Nigeria.

Alhaji Tanko who doubles as a board member of both NAGAFF and Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN),  lamented that his office is inundated  with complaints of aggrieved freight forwarders who accused the Bureau of being worse than the discredited SARS.

The petition reads: “We write to express our profound frustrations at the unbridled harassment, intimidation, detention and outright extortion of our members by the above named unit in your headquarters.

“Invitation letters  are written to our members under the guise  of facilitating an investigation only for them to be subjected to needless interrogations about a long-gone consignment.

“A form ‘M’ may have multiple items listed but only one or two may be imposed at a  point in time, granted that they may have access to the manifest, it may not tell the full story. Subsequent imports may include the rest.

“We insist that the Bureau may be over stepping their bounds in this instance.

“Electronic Bill of lading may pick any of the items from the Form ‘M’, but physical examination supercedes all other document.

“Various Customs Unit and other government agencies partake in the physical examination. Sir, we have Commissioner of police domiciled in the ports. We also have an AIG(Maritime) who may have cause to write to Customs to reposition a Container for re-examination. It is the items duly assessed and released after attestation by the relevant agencies.

“It  baffles our association that after this rigorous exercise and the containers long delivered, another Police unit steps in with a query. If the ZEB wants to be part of the examination or revenue collection, they may apply to the right channel and join the physical examination. They may know better than Customs.

“Every other day, we are inundated by complaints of aggrieved freight forwarders who accuse the ZEB of being worse than the discredited SARS.

He appealed to him to investigate this anomally in order to bring an end to it, stressing that  would lead to withdrawal of  their services and shutting down of ports in the Western Zone.